Investigation of mechanical and microstructural performance of alkali activated electrical arc furnace slag mortars

Abstract

The production of Portland cement, resulting in the release of CO2 gas, excessive energy and natural resource consumption, has led to search for alternative materials with similar physical and mechanical properties to the Portland cement of the scientific community. Geopolymers as alternative to conventional cement have a great potential for use in terms of their mechanical and durability properties. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate the usability of a new material alternative to cement, to reduce the environmental impact and for the disposal of Electric Arc Furnace Slag (EAFS), which is produced in large quantities in the primary target world and in Turkey and which causes storage space bottleneck. For this purpose, the mechanical and microstructure of the activated EAFS exposed to different curing conditions at three different sodium concentrations with a silicate module was investigated. When the results are examined, it is obvious that the strength increases with the increase of the sodium concentration. In addition, the literature on which alkali activation of EAFS has been added for the first time.